Following in the footsteps of a recently concluded 500 kilometre protest walk, a disabled man today started a protest walk against the construction of the incinerator in Kepong and the Lynas rare earth plant in Gebeng, Pahang.  

Isaiah Jacob, 48, who was born without his left leg, started his 308-kilometre journey to Gebeng at 9am today from Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, with the aim of arriving at the Lynas plant in seven days.

According to Jacob, who is also the Kepong Jinjang Anti-Incinerator Committee chairperson, the purpose of the protest walk is to shut down the Lynas plant and to stop plans to construct an incinerator in Kepong or anywhere in Malaysia.

"When we block them, their operation won't take place. They will face a lot of problems, the income is not there, (and) later, slowly, they will find the difficulties."

"There will be fear in the government, they won’t build this kind of (operations) in Malaysia, such as incinerators and nuclear plants. The rakyat is not in favour to all these kinds of things," Jacob said.

Cyclists join protest

He said that he will be met in Kuantan on June 22 by a group of cyclists from anti-Lynas group Himpunan Hijau, who would have cycled 2,800 kilometres.

The cyclists started their journey on May 15, and together with Jacob, will lead the '622 Shut Down' campaign to protest the rare earths plant.

Among those who supported him this morning were Selangor DAP publicity secretary Ronnie Liu, PKR vice-president Tian Chua, PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, national laureate A Samad Said and Himpunan Hijau leader Wong Tack.

Jacob, who is accompanied on the walk by volunteer Janice Ti, 46, is expected to arrive in Bukit Tinggi, 52km from Dataran Merdeka, at 7pm today.

He will then cover the following distances:

17 Jun - Bukit Tinggi to Karak (50 km)

18 Jun - Karak to Mentakab (45km)

19 Jun - Mentakab to Maran (55km)

20 Jun - Maran to Gambang (46km)

21 Jun - Gambang to Kuantan (30km)

22 Jun - Kuantan to Lynas plant, Gebeng (30km)

Last week, Chua Peng Sian walked 500km from his hometown of Pengerang, Johor, to Parliament to protest the relocation of a Chinese cemetery to make way for the Petronas Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (Rapid) project.